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January 13, 2009

Quiet town-hall meeting

General manager Jon Daniels sat before a group of fans tonight at a Rangers town-hall meeting in Lewisville, part of the Rangers Caravan, but he was let off the hook on the Michael Young situation. The first question was about Young, but no fans followed up to Daniels' answer (Young at third is best for the team, expects Young to be on the team).

Daniels spoke with local TV crews and the usual suspects from the print media, giving the same answers. Of note, Daniels still hasn't spoken to Young since last month, though he spoke to agent Dan Lozano on Monday night. Daniels is also concerned about a report that suggests many general managers and agents around baseball are looking down at Young's actions.

Here's this from the ESPN blog of Buster Olney:

Many rival executives and even some agents have little sympathy for Young, and some are flat-out appalled by his response. "The guy is well-compensated by the Rangers, and the Rangers are asking him to make a change that they think is good for the team," one executive said. "They should tell him, 'You're unhappy? OK, would you like to void your contract?' And of course the answer would be no."

Said another official: "What a joke. It's all about him, and not about the Rangers."

Daniels has a different view the negative light Young might be caught in.

"I think that's unfortunate," he said. "I think the guy's allowed to have his reaction to something like this. Anybody who has been around Michael knows he's a tremendous person, he's a big member of the community. The man won the Marvin Miller Award this year, so I think that's unfortunate and that's certainly not coming from us and won't."

Also from the Academy Sports and Outdoors in Lewisville:

Daniels set the record straight on an si.com report that said the Rangers have been shopping Young around for more than a month. There were conversations at the winter meetings in Las Vegas -- which isn't breaking news -- but nothing advanced past the "tire-kicking stage," Daniels said.

Right-hander Ben Sheets remains "a person of interest," Daniels said, drawing upon his Law & Order Lingo Handbook. Most conversations with Sheets' agent, Casey Close, have been about another Close client, Jason Jennings.